By Philip O’Connor
ZHANGJIAKOU, China (Reuters) – Marte Olsbu Roieseland cruised to her third gold medal at the Beijing Games without much bother but the 31-year-old said she had not yet set her sights on her compatriot Ole Einar Bjoerndalen’s record gold tally at one Olympics.
Bjoerndalen, or the “King Of Biathlon” as he is also known, took four golds at the Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002, far more than any other Norwegian biathlete has done.
With two races left, Roieseland, now on three golds and a bronze, could beat him.
However, the modest 31-year-old said she had not yet given a thought to eclipsing one of Bjoerndalen’s many records for both Norway and the sport.
“I’m just enjoying this moment and we’ll see,” she told reporters with a broad smile.
Given her dominance so far at the National Biathlon Centre in Zhangjiakou, where she has taken gold in the mixed relay, sprint and pursuit races and bronze in the 15km, there is little to suggest she can be stopped.
Sweden’s young star Elvira Oeberg has tried twice, in the sprint and Sunday’s pursuit, and come up a good bit short as her Norwegian rival leveraged her experience to keep calm under fire, missing just a single shot as she won the pursuit.
“I’m really happy about the race today. It went perfect, I think. My skiing was good, my shape was good and the shooting was really good. I hit 19 (shots) in this weather. I’m so happy.”
The biggest threat to Roieseland may be the pressure of being out in front of every race, but she said she was racing for herself first and foremost.
“It could be (stressful to lead all the time), but today I had decided to just focus on me and not give any attention to the other girls. I was just enjoying the race,” she said.
Her next chance for gold will come in Wednesday’s 4x6km relay, with the women’s competitions drawing to a close on Saturday with the 12.5km mass start.
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; editing by Clare Fallon)
